The Labour Government has extended the eligibility criteria for Free School Meals to include 2,700 additional children across the constituency of Penistone and Stocksbridge, in a move backed by Marie Tidball MP, Member of Parliament for Penistone and Stocksbridge.
From the start of the 2026 school year, every pupil whose household is on Universal Credit will be entitled to free school meals, benefitting over half a million children across the country and putting £500 back in parents’ pockets each year. This new entitlement will apply to children in all settings where free school meals are currently delivered, including schools, school-based nurseries and Further Education settings.
The unprecedented expansion will lift 100,000 children across England completely out of poverty. This will make life easier and more affordable for parents who struggle the most, delivering on Labour’s Plan for Change to break down barriers to opportunity and give children the best start in life. Giving children the access to a nutritious meal during the school day also leads to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes – meaning they get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.
The previous eligibility criteria, in place since 2018, meant that children have only been eligible for free school meals if their household income is less than £7,400 per year, meaning hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty has been unable to access free school meals.
The change comes ahead of Labour’s Child Poverty Taskforce publishing its ten-year-strategy to drive sustainable change later this year. It comes on top of targeted support for families being hit the hardest with the cost-of-living crisis, with urgent action including raising the national minimum wage, uprating benefits and supporting 700,000 families through the Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.
Marie Tidball MP, Member of Parliament for Penistone and Stocksbridge, said:
“Breaking down barriers to opportunity is one of my top priorities. I’m thrilled that our Labour government is expanding Free School Meals to all families on Universal Credit, enabling children in our schools have nutritious meals.
“For each of those 2,700 children across our communities who will benefit, the change will serve as a lifeline - putting more money back into the pockets of local families and helping more local children have a better start in life.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:
“Working parents across the country are working tirelessly to provide for their families but are being held back by cost-of-living pressures.
“My government is taking action to ease those pressures. Feeding more children every day, for free, is one of the biggest interventions we can make to put more money in parents’ pockets, tackle the stain of poverty, and set children up to learn.
“This expansion is a truly historic moment for our country, helping families who need it most and delivering our Plan for Change to give every child, no matter their background, the same chance to succeed.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:
“It is the moral mission of this government to tackle the stain of child poverty, and today this government takes a giant step towards ending it with targeted support that puts money back in parents’ pockets.
“From free school meals to free breakfast clubs, breaking the cycle of child poverty is at the heart of our Plan for Change to cut the unfair link between background and success.
“We believe that background shouldn’t mean destiny. Today’s historic step will help us to deliver excellence everywhere, for every child and give more young people the chance to get on in life.”
Labour is also offering more than £13 million in funding to 12 food charities across England to redistribute thousands of tonnes of fresh produce directly from farms to fight food poverty in communities.
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said:
“Poverty robs children of opportunities and damages their future prospects. This is a moral scar on our society we are committed to tackling.
“By expanding Free School Meals to all families on Universal Credit, we’re ending the impossible choice thousands of our hardest grafting families must make between paying bills and feeding their children.
“This is just the latest step of our Plan for Change to put extra pounds in people’s pockets – a downpayment on our Child Poverty Strategy, building on our expansion of free breakfast clubs, our national minimum wage boost and our cap on Universal Credit deductions through the Fair Repayment Rate.”
As well as the change to the eligibility criteria for free school meals, part of Labour’s wider Food Strategy includes the ‘Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate’ scheme, which is helping organisations to work collaboratively to ensure edible food that might have been left in fields instead ends up on the plates of those who need it, including schoolchildren.
To ensure quality and nutrition in meals for the future, Labour is also acting quickly with experts across the sector to revise the School Food Standards, so every school is supported with the latest nutrition guidance.
This is just the latest step in Labour’s Plan for Change to break the unfair link between background and opportunity, including rolling out free breakfast clubs, expanding government-funded childcare to 30 hours a week for working parents and commitment to cap the number of branded school uniform items.
From April 2026 until the end of parliament, millions of households are set to receive a permanent yearly above inflation boost to Universal Credit. The increase, a key element of the Government's welfare reforms to be laid before Parliament, will tackle the destitution caused by years of inaction that has left the value of the standard allowance at a 40 year low by the early 2020s.
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